My kids love making a mess with paint, so instead of crayons, we grabbed our Melissa &Doug jumbo paintbrushes and some paint and decided to cover our corks with loads of color before we turned them into bugs.

He thought it would be fun to have some giant bugs (made from cardboard tubes) along with some mini cork bugs. I thought it was a brillant idea since the cardboard tubes are nice and thick and easier than corks for his little sister to handle. We cut the paste paper to fit the tubes and then taped it onto them.

Next we glued the extra pieces onto the bugs (antennae, wings, legs, etc.) and added googly eyes. We’ve been reading Don and Audrey Wood’s book Quick as a Cricket for our Summer Virtual Book Club for Kids, so we even managed to make one of the cardboard rolls into a cricket.

After we were done crafting, I had fun mixing the cork bugs up and then trying to get my son to spell his name correctly by putting the bugs back in order. It was such a simple way to practice spelling his name. He loved knocking down the bugs and then starting all over again.

My 19-month-old had a great time flying her bigger bugs around the house . . . and then in typical toddler fashion, she started destroying them. But boy did she have a great time doing it!

We enjoyed this activity so much that we’re planning to make some more cork bugs with our friends next week!

Kristina is the author of ToddlerApproved.com, where she helps parents capitalize on teachable moments in everyday life and motivates them to discover, create, and learn with their children. She is a mom of a toddler and a preschooler (and has a baby on the way!) and is a former Special Education teacher who is constantly learning how to adapt to and enjoy the developmental milestones her children hit. When she’s not crafting, Kristina runs a Mommy & Me book club, volunteers at her son’s preschool, throws kid’s craft parties, and travels with her family. Kristina tweets as @ToddlerApproved and can be found on Facebook and Pinterest.